A Journey into the Desert – Aquabiotics in Libya, 2004

Back in 2004, I found myself on one of the most remarkable trips of my career. Aquabiotics had been invited to Libya, together with our English partners at the time, to help tackle a problem that was slowly crippling parts of the Great Man-Made River — the world’s largest irrigation project.

The issue was iron-related bacteria building up inside the pumps. For a project on the scale of the GMMR, where water travels hundreds of kilometres underground from the Nubian Sandstone Aquifer in the Sahara to the cities of Tripoli and Benghazi, even small obstructions quickly grow into very big problems.

We packed 500 kilos of BoreSaver Ultra C and set off to clean a well a full day’s drive south of Tripoli. The journey into the desert was surreal — mile after mile of sand and sky, broken only by the occasional checkpoint or scattered settlement. It felt like driving deeper into another world.

The contractors we worked with were terrific people. They were tough, determined, and full of good humour, despite the grueling heat and dust. We worked side by side into the night, not wrapping up until well past midnight. By then we were hot, exhausted, and coated in a layer of desert grit, but also satisfied — the well was cleaned, and the pumps were running again.

And then came the part that still makes me smile today. Instead of being dropped at some spartan desert outpost, we were put up in a magnificent palace. Ornate halls, sweeping staircases, and — unbelievably — our own chef on call. After a day of heavy labour in the desert, sitting down to a freshly cooked meal in that setting felt almost dreamlike.

That trip to Libya wasn’t just about solving a technical challenge. It was about people, resilience, and the strange contrasts you only discover when you travel. From the blazing heat of the Sahara to the cool marble halls of a palace, from the grind of cleaning a pump to the laughter shared with local contractors, it remains one of the most unforgettable chapters in Aquabiotics’ story.